Rep. Delauro Seeks Third Ter, Cites Task Of Unfinished Business

July 11, 1994|By LISA CHEDEKEL; Courant Staff Writer

NEW HAVEN — In the Wooster Square neighborhood where she said she learned unbending optimism as a child, Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro asked Sunday for a chance to tackle the ``unfinished business'' of health care reform and job retraining.

DeLauro, 51, announced she would seek a third term representing the 3rd District before more than 150 supporters who gatheredin shady Wooster Square Park, a few blocks from the row house that was her childhood home.

She pledged to continue to be accessible to her constituents, letting them set her political agenda, and to counter a growing ``cynicism and negativism'' by holding tightly to the values of her youth.

``I believe in Connecticut,'' she said. ``Some people are abandoning the state, but not me or you.

``Inside of us resides the character to continue to lead the nation in industry and innovation. By exploiting the advances in technology at our universities and hospitals, by retraining our workers . . . we can retain the success we have enjoyed through our history.''

Accompanied by her mother, Luisa DeLauro, a New Haven alderwoman, and her husband, Stanley Greenberg, a pollster for President Clinton, DeLauro portrayed herself as an advocate for the middle class eager to find solutions to the ``big problems'' of defense industry layoffs, crime and poverty.

She said she has pushed for tougher laws against domestic violence, for a new student loan program for middle-class families, for deep federal spending cuts, and for a re- employment program to train displaced workers for new jobs.

``It's not enough, it's not enough. I know that,'' she said. ``I know most people do not feel the changes in their lives right away. But finally, I believe, people are coming first.''

DeLauro got rousing applause when she spoke of revamping health care.

``Now we must finish the unfinished business of reforming our health care system -- guaranteed private health insurance that is affordable and available to everyone, and that can never be taken away,'' she said.

Two Republicans -- Susan E. Johnson of Hamden, a lawyer and college professor, and Richard Ulbricht of Wallingford, a contractor -- have announced plans to challenge DeLauro.

Ulbricht has filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission in Washington; as of last week, Johnson had not. Gail J. Dalby of Branford has taken out nominating petitions to run against DeLauro as a Natural Law Party candidate.

In the 1992 election, DeLauro, a former chief of staff to U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd, handily beat back a challenge by Republican Tom Scott, winning 64 percent of the vote. In her first election in 1990, she edged out Scott by a margin of 52 to 48 percent.

Among those attending DeLauro's announcement were state Rep. Martin Looney, D-New Haven, state Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, and East Haven Mayor Hank Luzzi. The 3rd district includes 18 towns from Clinton to Stratford.

Luisa DeLauro, now in her 28th year as an alderwoman representing Wooster Square, the heart of New Haven's Italian community, introduced her only child with a booming, ``my Rosa.'' She cried as she spoke about how she and her late husband had tried to teach their daughter ``to never forget her family, her neighbors, her community... Rosa has never forgotten where home is.''